Jurassic Park (1993) Movie Review
Jurassic Park (1993) Movie Review
After a lifetime of wanting to see this movie, I finally came around to it. I bought it at Target for a few bucks, then watched it a few days later. It isn’t my new favorite movie; but I can tell you: it is loved for a reason. Jam-packed with mind-blowing special effects, terrific acting, and memorable quotes, scenes, and characters, Jurassic Park is one of Spielberg’s best. Even though there is a lot that is scientifically questionable (how the heck did the dinosaur blood stay in the mosquitoes that long?), it is still creative as heck.
First off: the dinosaurs. They are absolutely stunning. When the T-Rex roars for the first time, you get a sense of awe and wonder as the lumbering beast slashes, overturns, and wrecks its way throughout the film. Even though by today’s standards the terrifying dinos look a little dated, you can still appreciate the amount of effort it must have taken to make them look that way back in 1993. At the beginning of the movie, a cage gets lowered into Jurassic Park. You can’t tell what’s in the cage, but you can guess that it’s a dinosaur. Then a scientist or someone (Jophery Brown) tries to reach in there, and he gets attacked by whatever creature lurks in the cage. They eventually decide to shoot the dinosaur to save the man’s life. I have a problem with this scene. When the dinosaur gets the scientist’s hand, why doesn’t it just eat it? Instead, it goes for slow, annoying torture, holding on with its razor sharp teeth, making the scientist scream in pain. This scene is one of many bothersome sequences in the movie. Another is the T-Rex raining scene. This is such a cool part, but when Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim (Joseph Mazzello) use the glass window from the car as a shield against the T-Rex, how does that work? The most powerful dinosaur can’t get through two little kids holding up a piece of glass? There were also a lot of small errors, like that the dinosaurs had some bits of small frog DNA. Frogs are nowhere close to lizards OR birds. So why frogs?
John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), the slightly bonkers man behind the park, seems to care more about the dinosaurs than his own grandkids. His grandkids are out somewhere in a park filled with lethal beasts of the Jurassic period, and he seems worried that the kids aren’t hurting them! My favorite character is Grant (Sam Neill). I like how his character progresses over the course of the story. He starts as a grim, serious businessman who considers children to be “smelly.” But by the end of the movie, he has a strong connection with Tim and Lex, the two kids of the movie.
Even though the Tyrannosaurus Rex is supposed to basically be the main, big, bad scary dino, I don’t fear or respect him nearly as much as I do the velociraptors. The raptors are cruel, vicious, unpredictable, smart, and fast as heck. The famous “raptors in the kitchen” scene pumped adrenaline hard. I could hear my heart pounding as Tim and Lex tried to be silent while the velociraptors prowl the kitchen, searching for them. The birth of the velociraptor is very visually cool. It is interesting to watch the baby raptor burrow out of its shell, as Grant and Sattler (Laura Dern) watch with awe and worry.
One thing I have to say about this movie is that it’s not like the book. Several scenes from the book don’t happen, and several scenes from the movie aren’t in the book. I know this because I did a book report on Jurassic Park in the fifth grade. The book is also far more graphically violent, and has d*mn in almost every other line. That is not so with the movie. I enjoyed both very much, but I might have liked the movie a little more. I feel like Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), the main human villain, gets what he deserves. He tries to take dinosaur embryos off the island, which results in his ultimate death. First he gets acid spit in his face by a dilophosaurus, which blinds him, and he doesn’t make it without sight. Dr. Sattler is OK, but she is only OK. The scene where she touches someone’s arm and feels relieved because she thinks it’s Arnold’s (Samuel L. Jackson) arm, but the arm is actually detached, is horror-movie worthy.
Safety Chart:
Violence: 7/10- As you would expect, people are eaten, beaten, trampled, and slashed to death by dinosaurs. Dennis Nedry gets acid spit in his face. The T-Rex attacks a couple of kids, but they aren’t fatally hurt. However, the T-Rex does manage to get Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero) in his jaws, brutally swinging him about. Huge guns are brandished, but not much gun action. Velociraptors gruesomely maul Muldoon (Bob Peck). Offscreen, Arnold is killed by velociraptors. Dinosaurs are shot to death. Many close encounters with dinos are mildly violent. Tim is electrified by an electric fence meant for the dinosaurs. Severed limbs are seen. The T-Rex eats a velociraptor.
Language: 5/10- Half a dozen curse words are used, although none of it is used often.
Drinking/Smoking: 5/10- One character is constantly smoking. John Hammond drinks sometimes.
Overall, this is a must-see. I’m glad I saw it. If you are a fan of science fiction movies, action movies, or adventure movies, you need to add this to your Netflix queue. With a stellar cast, enormous special effects, and multiple great other things, everyone should see it. As a letter grade I will give it an A-.
